Hanging An Ikea Maskros Light In Our Bedroom

Happy New Year!!! (that sentiment will make sense in a little while – hold tight)

The time had come to bid adieu to the fan in our master bedroom so we could introduce a light fixture with a bit more interest.

Hold on fan lovers. Put the pitchforks (or fan blades?) down and let me explain. We also removed the ceiling fan in our first home’s bedroom and picked up a high-powered Hunter table fan that did the trick, which we plan to use regularly in the warmer months here as well. It’s not that we’re anti fan – my wife likes to make the beyond corny joke that we’re “fan fans” – but we just like them to be well placed so form and function collide into a big beautiful fan-tastic situation. Like the fan in our sunroom (and the one in our last house’s sunroom) which we’d never dream of removing. But when it came to the master bedroom the our big old ceiling fan certainly wasn’t playing nice with Ed the Bed:

As for its replacement, on a recent trip to Ikea we picked up this guy: the Maskros pendant lamp (it comes in two sizes, but the bigger one would have practically been Sherry-sized, so we went for the smaller one that’s still 22 inches in diameter). It felt like a good “statement piece” for the bedroom (and only ran us 50 beans) so we were psyched that we finally pulled the trigger and made it ours after a few months of pining. We realize that this is one of those polarizing purchases, but it makes us smile like crazy so we said yes to something fun.

And although it was quite the statement piece when hanging in Ikea, when it arrived home with us, the only statement it was making was “put me together.”

But first the ol’ fan had to come down. So with the electricity to the entire house turned off (we’re safety freaks like that) I went to work disassembling it – a process that I’m pretty well versed at in at this point in my life. Though I have only recently discovered that it’s much easier to remove all of the blades first (so you don’t end up whacking yourself in the head while trying to disconnect the rest of it from the fixture box).

Unfortunately, removing the fan revealed some less than perfect ceiling behind it. Unfinished paint and what looked like a square patch panel that wasn’t sitting flush with the rest of the ceiling. Bummer.

Technically you’re not supposed to attach any of the “spokes” to the fixture until after it’s secured to the ceiling. But since we needed to strategically hang it low enough to sit under Ed’s top rail, but high enough to not look ridiculous, we used a couple of attached spokes to approximate its finished size and find the perfect hanging height.

Oh and Ikea suggests just coiling the extra wire inside of the cup at the top of the fixture, but I opted to cut the wire closer to our desired length by taking some scissors to the cord and then stripping the ends of the now-shortened wires.

So here it is completely hooked up with all of the spokes attached. We realized at this point that we were glad we used the ceiling medallion because it made the fixture look a bit more substantial and balanced, instead of hanging a giant ball from a little nub in the middle of the ceiling. Plus, if we ever paint the ceiling it’ll add even more detail and polish.

Of course we still had to attached the 82 (yep, 82) paper “flowers” that came in the set. They really are just paper asterisk-thingies that are pre-cut and pre-hole-punched to snap into place. So theoretically you could color them or replace them entirely with your own desired shape if you wanted to – and had the patience to make 82 of them. We briefly debated “going rogue” and spraying the back of them a color, but we liked the clean white look (crazy shape and size + classic color = love for us sometimes). Oh and you can also see how Ikea packaged them in small boxes to help curl the edges outward in this pic below:

Here’s the light with the first few rows of flowers attached, starting to look more like what we saw in the showroom…

After about 10 minutes we had all 82 attached and were left with this. Ta-dah! We were more than a little relieved that it didn’t take five hundred years to assemble (which was kind of the fear after we opened the box).

We’ll admit that at first it felt a bit bigger than we expected (it looked a lot smaller in the giant warehouse that is Ikea when we first laid eyes on it), but once we add things like a larger 8 x 10 rug under Ed (instead of three smaller they’re-there-because-we-have-them rugs) and some art on the walls, there will be more scale slash balance going on. And even without future items like a big cushy rug, it only took a few hours for it to totally grow on us. As in every time we walk into the room we grin. And about 50% of the time we actually high five. It’s just so much fun. And if you can’t have a little fun in the privacy of your own bedroom, where can you have it? Wait, that came out wrong.

It’s definitely the playful wow kind of “statement piece” that we were looking for. And although from the angle above it looks like it’s snuggled right up in Ed’s business, you can see from the pic above that they aren’t actually touching at all. And even though it hangs low in the room (the bulb sits just above my eye level), we love that we can get away with that because it’s an area that we’ll never walk through (because of Ed and the bench at his footboard). Take that 8 foot ceilings! We defy you.

As much as we love how crisp and soft it looks during the daylight, it looks like our own little Times Square New Year’s Eve ball at night. Sherry loves to walk into the room at night and say “3… 2… 1” and flick on the light while squealing “Happy New Year!”

It only accepts a 40 watt bulb, so it’s definitely not something that’ll flood your room with light, but for us it’s the perfect addition to the soft and moody lighting that we’ve already got going on thanks to our recently added side table lamps and the light over the vanity in our bedroom’s sink nook.

Plus, it is soooo cool to look at from bed. We didn’t even consider this POV when picking it, but when our heads hit the pillow it’s perfectly reflected in our bathroom mirror. How’s that for a nice added bonus? Oh, and I’m sorry ladies, but me and my sexy socked feet are taken (Sherry’s a lucky lady).

Oh and the light is centered in the room (and on that doorway and the bed) so the slight left-ish shift that you see above is just thanks to the angle of the shot that I snapped.

So there you have it. Thelittle big slice of “hey now” that we added to our master bedroom. It certainly doesn’t make us miss the old fan (which we’re donating to the ReStore) and it never fails to make us giddy. What can I say? Warning: pun coming. It lights my fire. Oh, and we should mention that Clara is crazy fascinated by the flowers themselves. We’d let her get near them if we could trust her not to put one of the paper flowers in a death grip and tear it off towards her mouth. So for now it’s just for looking.

Do any of you own Mr Maskros yourselves? Or are there any other dramatic and large-scaled light fixtures that you’re into lately?

Psst- There have been a few requests for more photos from other angles, so here they are:

Clara likey.

Update: Things definitely take some time to shake out around here. So if you wanna see how Ed the Bed and our new light evolved, click here and here. Ah tweaks. Gotta love ’em!

Oh man! I was totally lusting after that same light fixture the last time I was in Ikea. Its kinda crazy but there’s something I just love about it. Its so fun! I’m still considering getting it for our dining room that currently has one of those boring dome lights in it.

Looks great! I was just up at the DC area IKEA and saw the same light- very nice! Makes me want to run out and change our light fixture in the bedroom!

Question for you on the medallion- we have a light fixture in our dining room that isn’t centered to our table (centered to the room instead). We don’t want to change the location electrically but need to find a way to move the light over a bit (we’re buying a new one)… think a medallion may be my answer?

Yes! Absolutely! You want to be sure your wires are sealed/coated and that rerouting them a bit under the medallion is safe, but it’s a great option when you don’t want a visible cord swag (just tuck it behind a medallion). Good luck!

@ Kate– As for KC not having an Ikea, I hear you on that! I just heard the Denver area is getting one, which means there will now be 4 of them within an 8-10 hour drive, if you factor in Chicago (has 2) and Dallas. I would think there would at least be one in St. Louis by now.

@CC- I know! It’s so frustrating! I lived in SoCal for awhile and never took the opportunity to go, since we lived in a tiny apartment! Now that my boyfriend and I are buying a house, I wish we had one close!

I’ll join the “We want Ikea in Kansas City” train. I’ve heard before that they have to have their stores within a certain distance from warehouses to keep prices down. It would be worth it for them to invest in the heart of the midwest!

Hey, great (-ish) news! I’ve long been sad about no Ikea in KC and set out to find out what to do – and stumbled across Blue Box Delivery. You order your Ikea items through paypal on their website, and they drive to Dallas to pick it up. I’ve haven’t bought through them so I can’t really vouch for anything, but wanted to pass along an option!

I’m soooo with you guys! I live in Olathe and am hoping to make a trip to the Minneapolis Ikea. I stumbled across that Blue Box Delivery website once, but I’d really just like to go and see it all in person!

Thanks for passing along some ideas– I always make a point to go when visiting friends and family with a store in the area, but it would be nice to have one locally, since NFM has all but put everyone else out of business around town, and we’re lucky to even have a Crate and Barrel!

I have always admired the Maskros! I also really love the way the bright white of the pendant plays with the warm, yellowy light of the table lamps. Just curious, does it cast a flowery, kaleidoscope pattern on the walls?

We think if we used one of those clear bulbs it would cast more patterns, but since we’re currently using a regular Ikea bulb that we got to go with it, there are just a few subtle ceiling shadows at night (you can kinda see them in that pic with John’s socks in it – haha).

Wow, one of the few things I don’t really care for that you’ve done. But don’t take that personally. Decor is so personal that (thankfully!) the same items don’t do it for everybody. Strange that I don’t really care for it, since I have this baby in my living room:

Yup, that ottoman is just there for now since we already own it and it helps Burger get up on the bed. Down the line we’d love a longer, lighter, and leggier option. As for the nook to the left of the bed, we have debated everything from custom built-ins to open bookcases or even just sticking a cool cabinet in there with something hanging above it. Should be interesting to see where we end up!

I agree, that was my first thought “I can’t believe they’ve done something I don’t care for.” Y’all rock, but that’s so not me. I’m also not digging the yellowish light from the lamps behind, but I’m horrid at decorating :) A dream I have in my bedroom is those floating shelves & the wall mounted light. Keep up the great work! Your blog is the first one I check!

Those are just those work-with-what-we-have yellow shades. But switching them out down the line for white shades (or new side lamps altogether) would do the trick. We’re just taking things one day at a time so it’s definitely a room that’s still in progress! Can’t wait to see where we end up…

John actually did some googling and found that a few people said it wasn’t a big deal to feather dust it from time to time (someone even noted that they hadn’t dusted it in 6 months since assembling it and nothing built up on it at all since it gently moves thanks to the cord kit from Ikea being soft and not rigid like a metal chain). We’ll have to keep you posted!

I think you could totally use some canned air, the kind people use to clean out their keyboards/electronics, to blow the dust off the flowers. I’m afraid a feather duster would bend the little points, but blowing it clean might help it keep its shape better?

Funny thing…when I saw the first picture, I really didn’t know what to think, but it didn’t reach out and grab me (in a good way). BUT, seeing it hanging from the celing…IT TOTALLY WORKS!! Looks great and I love that you always give me news perspectives on things…THANKS!

All of that new lighting in your bedroom makes it so cozy looking! I love the view from the bed!

Ikea loves to make things that are tedious to assemble. My husband joked this weekend that we should start a side business of going to people’s houses to assemble Ikea stuff that they’re too lazy to do. This was after I screwed together Kassett boxes until my finger tips hurt…

In Kansas City there’s no IKEA and their delivery charges are insane! Because of this someone has started an IKEA delivery and set up business. Every few weeks they drive to the closest IKEA (in Texas) and bring your stuff back. They will also assemble it for a fee. My husband and I are thinking about ordering book cases that way.

Looks great! My kids and I were just admiring how cool that light is on our last trip to Ikea. We recently remodeled the kitchen and I took a chance with some cool lighting over the kitchen table, the firefly pendant light from CB2: